My streak hit 1000 days today! That is all :)
@Gary congratulations! I can but dream
@Gary Congratulations! You deserve a day off!
@Gary, congratulations! (Also, I enjoyed this puzzle—thank you, August)
@Gary Congratulations! It seems like an impossible task!
Another one for the pedants. I’m not sure of the American usage, but here to call an accountant (CPA) a [bookkeeper] would be at the very least insulting. They are distinct, albeit related, activities Note, for example, that there are both Accounting for Dummies and Bookkeeping for Dummies available in the shops.
@Patrick J. Same in the US. Not taking anything away from bookkeepers but there's a substantial amount of rigor required to obtain a CPA beyond what bookkeeping requires. You can look up average compensation for CPAs vs bookkeepers to see this clearly.
@Patrick J. Actually many (smaller) firms run by partners who hold themselves out as CPAs offer “bookkeeping services.” And, did you know that bookkeeper and bookkeeping are the only English words with three consecutive double letters? (I am a senior staff member in the Department of of Pedantry.)
@Patrick J. "Note, for example, that there are both Accounting for Dummies and Bookkeeping for Dummies available in the shops." It's the same book with different titles. Remember, they're marketing to dummies.
@Patrick J. It's the same in the US. My wife is a bookkeeper, not a CPA, and she disagreed with the clue as well.
@Patrick J. Is it unfair to say that while all CPA’s are bookkeepers, all bookkeepers are not CPAs?
@Patrick J. It's only a crossword puzzle...
Astatine. Word of the day. I don't find "Nerd Alert" to be a sarcastic reply. Dismissive, demeaning, barbed, arch, nasty, juvenile, yes, but after thinking about it for a good half hour, I came to the conclusion that it doesn't have the necessary elements of sarcasm. Now, if you replied, a la Spock, "Fascinating." -- that might work. Other phrases from Star Trek that might work: "Beam me up, Scotty!" "Yeah, no man's gone before there!" "That's highly illogical." Astatine. Even the word has a half life. In 8.2 minutes if my wife asks me what new word I learned I'd say "Astatium -- it's what mad scientists power their doomsday machines with, also space ships, in fact Astrotite powers most Lego art, megastores, Sigmund Freud, Derek Walcott, and did you know that Asterdiate caused Mt. Fuji to erupt in 1707 and that when J. Paul Getty started mining tads of it, he said compared to oil it was easy money, the only problem with Astrophe is that it has a very short half life and there are all sorts of free agents of it in our atmosphere, as many as there are google bots." "Nerd alert," my wife would reply, rolling her eyes. "You live long and prosper. I'm going to bed."
@john ezra Does this count as AGEISM? ??
@john ezra Wow, I can’t believe you sad that without using a single apostrophe!
I love Wordplay, and I appreciate its genuine enthusiasm and positivity, but sometimes I wish the columnists would include more constructive criticism of weaker clues, etc. So I would like to say that I appreciate that Deb included not one but two quibbles here!
@sbs You might enjoy Diary of a Crossword Fiend (to which I contribute). It covers about half a dozen puzzles each day and is independent of the puzzle publishers. While it’s writers don’t hesitate to criticize puzzles, we’re rarely as snarky about it as someone like Rex Parker.
As a bookkeeper, I can tell you that most CPAs are not bookkeepers and most bookkeepers are not CPAs. They are almost mutually exclusive. Ahem. Anyway I enjoyed the puzzle 🙂
@Lpr Right? I'm not an expert on US terminology and legal requirements for bookkeeping, but I felt something was off. Still, I answered the clue instantly.
@Lpr My CPA/MBA wife said she found it a little insulting. I figured she would, having seen how much she had to study to get CPA, especially.
@Lpr My first thought was, "CPAs are going to love this."
@Lpr AGREED! I passed the CPA exam back in the 1980s, after 3️⃣ tries I think. But I could never get hired by a CPA firm, thus couldn’t get the requisite 3-4 years experience necessary before I could hang out my own shingle. Always worked for for-profit companies or non-profit organizations, always as the in-house accountant, found fraud in two separate cases, just by doing the bank account reconciliations. Found the previous accountant had been writing checks to himself, although in the One-Write system, he appeared to be paying accounts payable. When the bank statement came in the mail, he would rifle through the checks in the envelope, & grab out the ones HE had cashed. Hard to catch fraud with poor accounting controls! But I got the goods on him: the bank photographs of the fraudulent checks. I would have made an excellent forensic C.P.A., but, alas, was only a lowly P.A., 😉👋🏽!
Should you be hankering for a bit more crosswording, I have a themed puzzle in today’s Washington Post / Los Angeles Times. It’s free, and you can solve it online or print it out. If you give it a shot, I hope you enjoy it!
@Lewis Did it! Enjoyed it! (no spoilers.)
@Lewis I gave it a shot! I enjoyed it! (no spoilers.) (no emus)
@Lewis I'm finding the puzzle too hard for me to finish without any aid. I've been at it for 30 minutes, and the grid is about half full - but I needed to check most of the answers I've given so far, and I revealed three entries. The theme is still eluding me. I have one of the themers, and it sort of indicates what the whole thing is about, but I can't quite grasp it. You're obviously much smarter than me, and your English is better (duh 🤪)
@Lewis Loved the theme! And loved [Who might say, "Curses, foiled again!"]
@Lewis Nice one! I only needed to 'check grid' four times, no other cheats. Thanks for letting us know.
@Lewis Fun! I loved the theme and only wished there were more. The upper left sub group clue threw me for a while and ended up making me smile. I won't say I liked this better than the NYT puzzle, except I did. :) Quick, smart, and fun. Thanks.
@Lewis Beautiful puzzle. Thanks Lewis!
@Lewis Great puzzle, great theme! Thanks!
@Lewis It took me twice as long to finish as today’s NYT puzzle. Enjoyed it more!
@Lewis It got my un atten tion.
@Lewis Wow, your puzzle needed a warning label so I could've done some warm-up mind-stretching. OOF I fully expected to find some palindromes and semordnilaps and you did not disappoint. You trotted out the full razzmatazz and made me feel like a dumbbell. I knew there'd be some crack involved...and snap and popping. You really got me with SOWERS for "planters", I had BOWERS in there for the longest time. I knew there had to be a Doppelrothleiner, and SPOTTED that PECCADILLO. Nice work Lewis.
@Lewis terrific!! I had a typo that I was a doofus not to find! Thanks for sharing.
@Lewis I love you as a commenter and fear you as a constructor. NW too tough for me.
@Lewis Nice work! A bit more challenging than I expected, though I managed to fill in all the gaps without too much trouble. 1A was a gimme thanks to the fantastic Michael Chabon novel “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.” Getting that answer quickly gave me a false sense of how easy the puzzle would be. Not! I lived seeing 4D and 5D in the same grid. Such fine words. Congratulations! And thank you!
@Lewis Wow! Your theme split ne up and put me back together in a most entertaining fashion. Thank you for a very chewy grid! Those clues were somehumdingers, most fresh and fun I've seen, real head scratchers in a well thought manner! Being a serious trekker, having to fill in "that other" answer was my only tiny niggle - however, as the philosopher Surak noted, “I am pleased to see that we have differences. May we together become greater than the sum of both of us.”
@Lewis It's definitely a Friday challenge for me. It's so cool to "know" the creator, in a way! I hope to see more of your puzzles.
@Lewis: A bouquet of flow ers for you!
Ack no: I meant a bouquet of peo nies
I have so greatly enjoyed reading your responses to my puzzle -- thank you all so very much!
@Lewis I struggled harder with yours than today’s NYT puzzle, but enjoyed it more. I loved the “Overlord of the rings, for short?” clue. I didn’t understand the theme until after my third completion, but that’s not unusual for me. Great job and thanks!
"Did you put this picture hook up successfully?" "Oh, I nailed it!" (It was a photo finish!)
@Mike Nothing the matte-r with that one. You framed it nicely. I'm positively avedon Warhol's. I have a collection, and when someone asked to buy one of mine, I had to say I don't mean to ofFEND you, but simply I Kinte lego art. (It would have been easy money, but I am waiting for the price to go up.)
@Mike and I screwed it up!
@Mike Glad to see you finally got the hang of it -- although it went down to the wire.
My CPA wife just lit herself on fire after being referred to a "a bookeeper!"
@Gopher As a bookkeeper, I'm considering marching into my boss' office and demanding a raise!
@Gopher - I think bookeepers work in haunted houses…
@Gopher As a fellow CPA I agree. It's like referring to a Dermatologist as a "pimple popper". (Seinfeld joke)
@Gopher and @Hannah Wonderful! (And Gopher was so upset on his wife's behalf that he misspelt 'bookkeeper.' Hoo, boy! Why not just lob a grenade, Emus and Editors?
Alan, I'm glad you understood it *was* a joke.
Three cheers for the vital work of the Department of Pedantic Arguments!
@Kate Tani I think it should be the Department of Pedantic Editorialization. It can be a federal agency. It could be referred to casually as DOPE.
Really wanted 1A to be PAPARAZZI. :)
@KandB I had PAPARAZZO. My first entry, and I was pretty confident it was right. Found that mistake, blew through the upper half of the puzzle thinking to myself that I had everything under control, then got humbled by the lower half. I had to outright look up about six answers. Among other things, I was wracking my brain for a term for decorative brickwork.
@KandB Yeah, me too, and I was so proud of myself for getting a great start on a Friday puzzle.
@KandB I thought for sure it was going to be PAPARAZZO, too.
I didn’t find this one as easy as everyone else it seems! The SE was most of the problem. Didn’t like MOLARS or LAM (as Deb has noted, you don’t grab food with your back teeth and LAM isn’t really a verb..). Even as one whose knowledge TILTs STEMwise I didn’t know ASTATINE. Not sure what a LINEA (Line A?) is. Wanted UNTIDY to be UNrulY (UNTIDY to me is more passively messy, whereas “chaotic” feels more active). Not familiar with the GETTY. Found NERDALERT a bit insulting (see above about being STEMish 😂). Had to google catholic presidents — I would have got BIDEN eventually on crosses of course but just couldn’t get enough of a foothold to _have_ any crosses! After looking BIDEN and ASTATINE up the rest eventually fell into place but it was a bit of a slog
@Alexis yes, “LINE A” is at the top of a tax schedule in the US. We have forms (the most [in]famous of which is Form 1040, the base form for all but the simplest personal income tax submissions), and then those forms have schedules attached to them to provide more detail on things such as itemized deductions (Schedule A), capital gains (Schedule D), etc. Things a CPA would know 😀
I was so pleased to get the first entry immediately— and a long one at that! So pleased that I held on to it for far too long, even when I could tell it wasn’t working. Alas, “paparazzo” was not the 1A of my dreams. Deb’s column should be required reading for anyone who wants to criticize a puzzle, but do it with tact and respect. I’ve come across many commenters who could benefit from this example.
@Heidi I tried paparazzi for a few minutes, but the double z was my head’s up.
@Heidi hand up both for PAPARAZZO and for being so, so pleased with myself. For about 20 seconds.
I think of CUBER as where JFK was dealing with a missile crisis.
@Steve L - Ah, but would you drive a Tesler?
@Steve L Too funny! I thought I'd never heard of CUBER, and then read your comment. Now I hear his voice saying that word as an ear worm!
@Steve L How would you work CHINER into that?
Today cannot be Friday. I cannot do NYT Friday puzzles in less than 30 minutes. Without help no less! I'm 81 so maybe this is really Tuesday.
MOLARS don't grab, they grind.
Charlie, I thought Deb's question* last night was rhetorical. *And now for a question from the Department of Pedantic Arguments: Don’t we bite food with our front teeth, and then transfer the food to the MOLARS to be chewed? No judgment if you do it the other way, of course. The department was just wondering.
I shot a TREY FORTHEWIN and made some EASYMONEY. I struggled a bit in the SE, but eventually INAILEDIT. Fun Friday.
This was a near-perfect Friday solve for me. I almost managed to fill the grid without outside help. After staring at the area directly S and SE for several minutes, however, I looked up the LA attraction and the element. Once I did, I realized I probably knew "The GETTY". The name rings a bell, anyway, but I can't say I really know what it is. I'll look it up. Btw, I enjoyed our two visits to the US, and there are some places I would still like to see there, but LA was never on the list. I think pop culture may be to blame - all I know about LA is its horrible traffic, crime, and the painful contrast between extreme wealth and abject poverty: all movie and TV tropes. Anyway, back to the puzzle. The element ASTATINE I've never heard about. It sounds like medication rather than anything else. I figured out other unknowns on my own. The area directly E was tough: I knew neither WES nor KINTE, and SHAG I understand only the British way, or as a description of a kind of carpet. Never having seen Peanuts I only got ADULT with many crosses. I did not know LOSE A TURN might mean a tough draw: in fact, I still don't quite get it. I knew TAFFY (from video games) but I realized we don't have it in Poland, I think. Wikipedia has no Polish article on it, anyway, and the description doesn't match anything I've ever eaten over here. Some translate it as the familiar "ciągutka" (literally: stretchy one), but I the details don't match: ciągutka is always milky, and it's not fluffy.
@Andrzej I'm with you on LA. I've only been in the area a couple of times myself. Gertrude Stein said it about Oakland, but it applies even more so to LA, IMHO, that "there is no there there". I know people that love LA will read this, and I'd just like to say this is my personal opinion, and not very well informed, so if you want to rebut, please rebut. LA has always felt a little soulless to me. Most other major cities have a image of some kind that comes to mind. New York and Chicago, the skyscrapers. Baltimore the classic stooped row houses, or maybe Fort McHenry. Philadelphia is the Liberty Bell. Boston the Old North Church. But LA seems to lack these focuses. There's the Hollywood sign, I guess, but that's more for a slice of LA. Also, I like precipitation, particularly as snow. Snow never happens there, and rain is infrequent.
@Andrzej My take on LA is different. I lived in Long Beach for a few years, and I spent many years living elsewhere but working on projects in the county. I love LA, but it didn't happen immediately. A tourist trip highlights the traffic, the chaos (which can be UNTIDY), the lack of focus. There is lots of history, but it's not all concentrated in the middle for easy sightseeing. The history is that of California, pueblos, Spanish colonialism, giant ranchos, water rights. The things I value the most are the food, the beach, and the (usually) easy climate. Flying in from the east, especially at night, is spectacular. You can see the mountains defining the north side and the almost incomprehensible size of the LA basin. Plus the geology of California is super cool,
@Nora We visited California, mostly for the national parks of the north. They were spectacular, especially when admired on hikes long enough to lose the crowds. The giant redwoods were one of the most amazing sights of my life. Of the cities we only saw San Francisco, however.
@Andrzej shag is apparently a baseball term. I, too, find these crosswords to be one part puzzle, one part advanced language course.
@Andrzej - when our chorus touring brought us to LA, we spent a day at the Getty Museum. I will show my east-coast bias when I say that I was really amazed and surprised that a beautiful museum for beautiful works of art existed out there. But it is so, a truly worthy place for art lovers. My first impression of LA was different. I had played a recital in San Diego. The flight home was a hop from SD to LA before the jump from LA to NYC. On that first leg, the plane left San Diego with clear, shining, blue skies. As we landed in LA, I could see the brown air actually eddying as the wings of our plane dislodged it. Once in the terminal, the yellow-brown dirt that LA calls “air” kept planes across the tarmac nearly invisible. Nope, LA is not for me.
@Andrzej no taffy in Poland, from my memories of visits to see family at a very candy-centric age, but now I want a big bag of ciągutki! (Taffy is much stickier on the teeth - but if you buy fresh taffy, say in a beach town, it’s lovely.)
@Andrzej Just a moment to explain LOSE A TURN. There are games, usually board games, that do not rely solely on a roll of the dice and instead employ a shuffled card deck that each player draws from during their "turn". The next time around, after drawing a dreaded LOSE A TURN card, the player is skipped over as a setback to progress.
@Keith Thanks. I'm not a board game person which probably explains why I did not understand what was going on.
@Andrzej Common treat (perhaps mostly in the NE and Midwest US?) from a vendor at a carnival or county fair. Around here, “saltwater taffy” is used most commonly to describe these bite-sized treats wrapped in waxed paper. People enjoy choosing their favorite flavors from a wide variety. IMO, they are best enjoyed fresh (before they harden through drying), like one would purchase from a carnival booth. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taffy_(candy" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taffy_(candy</a>)
@Andrzej There is much about LA to love. The beaches, the mountains, the desert, The Hollywood Bowl, more than 100 museums, The Getty (as noted), LACMA, MOCA, the Huntington. a drive through Beverly Hills. Olvera Street. Griffith Park, the constantly beautiful weather. Orange trees in your backyard. Palm tree lined streets. Everything in bloom. The traffic is horrific, but…eventually you get where you’re going. It’s true, as some say, that there is no “there there” but it’s a huge city, 500 square miles, and unlike most the focus is not limited to “downtown”.
@Andrzej, I had no lookups until I did not get my happy music. The error was on SHAG, which I still do not get, but oh well, I fixed it and got my happy music.
Um, Mr. Lee-Kovach? You seem to have forgotten the junk fill. Not a major offense, it’s just that I couldn’t find a single morsel of crosswordese, so I’m guessing you just…forgot? Stellar, solid, stupendous. NERD ALERT, indeed! Okay, so younger son is officially a doctor! We fly out in a few hours to get to older son’s wedding cuz he’s his brother’s best man! I just woke up and I need a nap. On to Lewis’ puzzle! Happy Friday all!
@CCNY Congratulations! And you'll enjoy Lewis's bonus. Have a fun weekend. (As to common fill, ESP is certainly borderline, don't you think?) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
Today I reached a 365 day streak of not giving up! In the past year my days of I NAILED IT have far outpaced those when I’m fearing a LOSS. Many thanks to the Wordplay authors and commenters who get me going when I’m stuck. And to the constructors, your skills have my eternal respect.
As a Brit, ICANTEVEN go into why 25-across sounded off-key to me.
@WMY We know what it means in the UK. Here in the US, it’s from baseball. SHAGging flies means practicing catching fly balls (balls hit high into the air and far). A pre-game activity.
@WMY. As an Australian I’m with you
@WMY So if your coach tells two of you to head to the outfield and shag, you'd look at him funny???
@Steve L Shagging flies is the one of the few forms of zoophilia not banned in Poland - the crime only applies to vertebrate animals 🤪
@WMY "Oh do behave" <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/47ijmq?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/47ijmq?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
Memorable moment: As it looked at answers LEGOART and LETMEGO, my brain shouted, “Leggo my Eggo!” Star of the puzzle: DOOMSDAY MACHINE. Looks gorgeous spanning the grid, is an answer debut not only for the Times, but has also never appeared in any of the major Crosslandia outlets. Had to be a seed entry. Notable fact: August (the constructor) was 14 in 2021, when his first Times puzzle was published (today is his fifth). Triumphant moment: Pulling KINTE out of a decades-long hibernation in my brain. Solve snapshot: Some sticky spots, some splat fills, both of which happified my brain. Thumbs up, therefore, for a splendid outing. Thank you so much for this, August!
@Lewis, Same here with KINTE. Funny how some things stay with you for almost 50 years now.
@NYC Traveler The things from 50 years ago are not a problem. It's the things from last week.....
@Lewis I thought KINTE was in a puzzle just a few days ago, but maybe it was in a NY Mag puzzle by Matt Gaffney from a few weeks ago (I"m way behind).
@Lewis Except I put in KENTE (which is woven cloth)...all roads lead to fabric!
@Lewis Crazy week! Just finished your WAPO puzzle on the plane. Spectacular! Theme and fill were nothing short of giddy and brilliant. Thank you!!
@CCNY @Lewis Agreed!!! Thanks for the heads up yesterday!
One of those days when having memorized Tom Lehrer’s Periodic Table song came in handy. #nerdalert
@Justin How is it that I am not aware of this song? Today, I will dig out my (very) old Tom Lehrer songbook and memorize this very important piece of music! Very often younger people will moan "why will I ever need to know this xxx?" and I will answer "because it will be in a crossword puzzle!" Today was one of those days!
Grrr. Tads of my comments have lammed today.
I kind of like Astatine. I mean, of course I've never seen it except as the At near or at the bottom of the next to last column. (As was taken by Arsenic.) I've probably spent more time staring at the periodic table than any other single entity. The odd thing about At is that, while we normally picture radioactive materials as metallic, that's just because most elements *are* metallic. Uranium, plutonium, radium... (But then there's Radon, a gas!) If there were enough Astatine in the world to create a chunk (and we could suspend its radioactivity), the chunk would probably be brittle and act a lot like iodine. It would be a really cool poison for a thriller movie.
Oh, goody! Another clueless clue about hypnotism! Followed by an element that doesn't end with -IUM, and so rare that it can't be studied... Srsly? Couldn't rework the SE to avoid that? Who says MEGASTORE instead of...any other name? anyone? anyone? Bueller? Isn't it about time we quit barring travel to CUBER? I guess that's enough fodder for me to mull over as I work my way through the day. All y'all take care out there...avoid the ICE.
@Mean Old Lady I've actually induced "hypnosis" with the aid of a pendulum, just for fun. Braid eye fixation is still a thing, though less popular than it used to be. And then there's the placebo effect of expectation management, in which the whole "pocket watch" thing gets patients into the right headspace simply by suggestion. And Chevreul's pendulum used in autohypnosis. So I thought the clue was OK, although probably dependent on an unfashionable trope.
CPAs do a little more than bookkeeping I think! I was sure that couldn't be the answer. 🤷
@Chelsea Yes, of course. But just as all surgeons are doctors, all CPAs are also bookkeepers, even though they qualified for much more. No?
Such a fast Friday until that SE corner! I rejected LAM for the same reasons as listed in the column, and have to admit to not knowing ASTATINE. I then had RIPE for RIFE, didn't like MOLARS for grabbing, and had enough doubt in BAG that I become a bit grid locked. I let myself lookup an element starting with AST, and then was able to shuffle things into place.
@Anthony. Same here. Had unruly not UNTIDY as well.
Today’s NYT crossword, crafted by August Lee-Kovach, was an absolute delight—a Friday grid that struck the perfect balance between clever and conquerable. I zipped through it in just over ten minutes, and every clue felt like a satisfying little nod to my puzzle prowess. The fill was smooth and lively, with entries like TAFFY, AGORA, and FREUD giving the grid a nice mix of sweet, historical, and cerebral. I especially appreciated the cultural nods—DEREK Walcott was a classy inclusion, and WES Unseld brought a sporty flair that didn’t feel forced. There was no overt theme today, but the puzzle didn’t need one. The cluing was tight, the wordplay was fair, and the aha moments came steadily. “Chase, as some flies” for SHAG made me chuckle, and “Pool owner’s problem” for ALGAE was a nice seasonal touch as we head into summer. All in all, this was a puzzle that made me feel smart without being smug. A great way to kick off the weekend—thanks, August and the NYT team!
@Lukas Well…stating that one solved a hard Friday puzzle in just over ten minutes seems kind of smug to me.
@Karl Did Lukas say it was hard? I completed it in less than half my average time, almost as quickly as he did, although I am not a fast solver and don't try to be. It was fun, but I found it unusually easy for a Friday. Will be interesting to check out XWord Info later today to see how it gets rated.
Excuse me, emus. How was it a TOS violation to point out that Friday crosswords are themeless?
61A is not “sarcastic”. It’s rude, but it’s not sarcastic.
@Sean Sarcastic does seem a little bit off, but to me so does rude (as the comment is often made as a loving job from friends or family). IMHO, I would think that using "quip" instead of "sarcastic remark" would be better suited for the clue
It's been a bonkers sort of week for me, but I have enjoyed all the puzzles so far. Some super great clues and although it took me a while, Thursday ended up being a lot of fun. It's interesting to hit a point where I'm confident I can do *most* puzzles without lookups despite being quite terrible at Greek mythology and sports names (I'm pretty good at sports lingo though). The confidence makes doing the puzzles more fun in some sense... I don't generally panic that I can't figure something out. I think this confidence also makes me a much better puzzler because I can relax my brain and let the words come. I keep thinking that must be how people who are masters of their trades might feel (I'm not even close to claiming mastery of puzzles!!! but you know what I mean). I'm thinking about musicians or skilled masons or carpenters. As a professor for 23 years I'll admit that I never feel that level of confidence in publishing and I only sometimes feel it in teaching. And I don't have imposter syndrome! I really just don't think I'm at this level of confidence in these areas. Have any of you reached that level of confidence in any of your careers, callings, or daily tasks, mundane or otherwise? Does it make those things boring or awesome? Happy Friday!
@Niki B - when people watch an organist like me play, using both hands and both feet and often in divided ways, they ask “but how? how do you do that?” There’s a simple answer: hours and hours and hours and hours. Yes, talent is there. Yes, interest is there. But mostly, just plain work.
@Niki B I rarely get through a day without musing about something I might have done better... but I don't fret, especially if it makes an amusing story. In my life as a teacher, I considered that kind of review to be part of the job, and publishing was a way of sharing knowledge and insights. ..... However, why would I rate myself on mundane daily tasks? Or my hobby iinterests? If I am not satisfied with an art quilt, I may rework the piece or make another version or request a critique at a guild meeting...but it's not the same thing as 'not having confidence.' Miight I suspect you of being very good at everythiing but believing in yourself?
@Niki B I think the more time you have for reflection, as in publishing and some teaching, the more likely doubts are to intrude. I know that feeling well.g But as an experienced clinician in an acute specialty, I frequently entered Csikszentmihalyi's "flow state" when patients were extremely unwell. There's a feeling of effortlessness and deep satisfaction that comes with that---it's often described as involving a sense of "autotelicity", becoming an end in itself. Latterly, I could also flip into that mode when teaching a trainee to perform under those same high-pressure circumstances. It's one of the very few things I miss, now that I'm retired. So, yes, definitely a life enhancing aspect of my job.
@Niki B Thought-provoking question. I would say I have that level of confidence in my work as in computers and it feels great. Some of that is because it's a second career after over 10 years as a NOT very good secondary school teacher. I am eternally grateful to the people who helped me make the change.
I’m quite prepared to accept we’ve huge gulfs in how our shared language has developed over the years. But has anyone, ever, said “relo” out loud?
I need to relo! I need to lam! The flies shagging next door is just too much. The noise of their setae rubbing against each other... The horror! Also, the bookkeeper downstairs has the gall to call himself a CPA. All this would be too much even for a Derek Walcott play.
@Phil It's not uncommon here. I've heard it mostly from real estate agents and people who have moved around a lot for work.
@Phil I've heard it used. And don't object to it being a synonym for move. But it's only informal compared to the word it shortens. It's more specific and jargony than the colloquial "move"
@Phil All... the.. time. Yes. It's so common I am still surprised when it's not accepted in things like SpellBee. It is very prevalent in Information Technology and in real estate... I've both heard and used it regularly for decades.
I agree with all the pedantic objections to this one. I would add [“You bet!”]. “It is” often follows “You bet,” but I don’t think of them as synonyms. However, on a fun note, I did like learning that all the adults in “Peanuts” were voiced as a muted trombone!
@Cherry Is the BMW X6 the ugliest car ever? You bet! Is the BMW X6 the ugliest car ever? It is! Both versions work equally well, don't they?
SHAGging flies? Thanks for that image, NYT, which would mean something *very* different in BrE. That G was the last to fall. Second last was the RELO / RIFE cross. Not a familiar term for a house move, to me. (Hereabouts, we "flit".) And RIFE doesn't quite fit the grammar of the clue, for me. Similarly, LAM used as a verb, or [Flee] as a noun, were also unfamiliar usages.
Oh. And there was BAG for "abandon". This one was a plod of familiar words in unfamiliar usages.
@Oikofuge Yesterday, I spent a lovely afternoon reading (on wikipedia) about noun classes/prefixes in Zulu and the Bantu languages. For which I thank you:-) (Last day of an eight-day vacation, so less presence here in the days ahead.)
@Oikofuge Oh, flies, they wanna have fun Oh, flies just wanna have … That's all they really want Some fun
@Oikofuge Agree about RIFE and LAM not quite fitting the grammar of their respective clues. I felt similarly about UNTIDY: I had "unruly", which clearly didn't fit the crosses but is much closer to [Chaotic], IMHO...
I loved today's Crossword. I'm a slower solver, so I'm not one of the ten minutes or so Friday solvers. I always enjoy when a crossword grows my vocabulary or teaches me new meanings for words that I didn't think of immediately. I will more often get clues about ancient Greco-Roman related things than I will pop trivia or baseball (it's the only sport I've not really found a team that makes me want to dive in with). Yes, I know the baseball thing is likely a sin in New York. Great puzzle!
@Cory L You may have your team soon. I’ve heard rumors that Nashville is high on MLB’s list of possible expansion locations.
From today’s “Easy Mode” newsletter: A question of crossword difficulty over time By Christina Iverson “I’ve been playing the NYT crossword since around 2008, when I was in middle school. I’ve noticed that the puzzles — especially the Sunday, which used to have maddeningly challenging trick themes — have gotten significantly easier. Fridays and Saturdays, which used to take a long time to solve, have gotten less complex and easier. The references, too, used to be slightly more highbrow. Obviously I am more practiced now than I was in school, but I did wonder if this was a concerted effort by the editors of the NYT puzzle pages to be more inclusive, as the games can now be played online by people who don’t necessarily read the paper. I’m all for inclusivity, I just wonder if the Monday-Saturday difficulty has been thrown off. Am I imagining this?” — Zoe, New York City From Christina: I sometimes solve crosswords from the archives, and I have noticed this myself. Puzzles from 10 years ago often take me much longer than those from today. There have been a few changes. One is that, with crossword software being much more developed and accessible than it used to be, more constructors can make clean grids. Good software and word lists make it much easier to create a grid without obscure entries or tough vocabulary. European rivers, ancient pots and extinct birds that used to appear frequently are no longer staples. (To be continued)
Our editorial team is also much bigger now than in 2008, and it’s a lot more diverse. Will Shortz used to be the only person reviewing crossword submissions and editing them. Now, we have a team of six editors under Will who help decide what makes the cut. With more editors weighing in about what seems obscure or what feels fun, we accept puzzles that have more modern references and fewer “crosswordy” entries. Finally, your experience solving probably has helped puzzles feel easier now. You have most likely picked up vocabulary and trivia without even noticing. You may fill in words that appear often in crosswords without much thought, which means you come to the longer answers with more letters written in.
Eric, And, aside from all that, most of them are just plain much easier.
@Eric Hougland Thank you Eric, that was worth republishing here. It covers a lot of our usual scuttlebutt about the issue. I think one pleasant takeaway is that the tech has allowed less reliance on obscurities such as minor rivulets. Somehow the oreos and emus survive. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Eric Hougland It appears your replies to the others in this thread have gotten caught the bug afflicting the NYT Comments of late. They no longer display in the regular course of things -- but they did when I first scrolled through a few hours ago! Such a bummer, because I thought this response from Christine Iverson was especially interesting. Thankfully, the full thread is just hidden, not gone. For anyone unfamiliar, click on the timestamp at the top of the initial post to view the full thread. (And hopefully this post won't befall the same fate!)
Astatine. Definitely a rare-dirt element. (Earth is soil, please. Like calling a CPA a number shagger.)
Just one square away from a gold star. Couldn't the Times award me a silver medal or a participation trophy?
Once again thank you Tom Lehrer for “The Elements” song (I don’t have it memorized, but enough to get ASTATINE—Daniel Radcliffe does as his party trick) <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AcS3NOQnsQM</a>
1A should have been paparazzi, it’s infinitely more clever than spaceship.
@KStandiford I considered the singular PAPARAZZO, but checked the clue for 7D and quickly decided 1A was something else.
@KStandiford I would say this falls into the category, for some longer half-lived solvers, of a "weekend double-deek": You know the literal, astronomical, meaning of "star," but you think "Hey, it's a Friday, there must be some wordplay involved--perhaps 'shoot' as in camera, and 'star' as in celeb." But, no, it's the literal meaning that's needed. Sounds like many solvers, myself included, fell for such clever cleverlessness.
@KStandiford Yes — I thought the same thing — it had the right number of letters!
I would disagree to say that lam is definitely a verb i.e we gotta lam it. Can hear it in The Sopranos etc . I liked this puzzle.
14 minutes and some change. Don’t care if it was too easy. Southeast took some heavy thought. Thanks for the breather.
My solving experience was mostly smooth and very quick (xwstats.com says it’s my 15th fastest Friday). I didn’t see anything in the NW that I could quickly get, so I moved to the NE where DEREK Walcott started me on a roll that hardly stopped, even when I got to Mt. FiJI (I know, I know — but they do have volcanoes there!) 2D brings back some pleasant camping memories. Once, we camped in the Santa Fe NF outside of Cuba, NM, and woke to find cattle milling around our tent. Another time, in a NM state park east of Santa Fe, we camped in a pretty campground alongside the Pecos River. Thanks for a pleasant diversion, Mr. Lee-Kovach!
Btw, given the whole bookkeeper/CPA debacle, I looked up how it's been regulated in Poland. Apparently in 2014 the accountancy/bookkeeping profession (there is no distinction between the terms) was deregulated and these days anybody can be a bookkeeper/accountant. Of course, finance and accountancy/bookkeeping feature as courses at university, but one does not have to take such a course to enter the profession. So there.
@Andrzej In the US therapists have the same qualification and credentialing requirements as astrology, palm, and aura readers... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
Not too tricky for me, and I learned quite a few words/phrases, fortunately easy to guess or get with the crossers. I've not experienced TAFFY and found it was not the same as 'toffee'. I thought ANTSY meant 'angry.' I haven't come across AGASP and thought it must be 'aghast.' BAG for 'abandon' was new, as was another definition of SHAG. RELO was impossible! The acme of abbreviation. But then I say 'obstetrician' and 'gynaecologist' without shortening them. Not bad at all.
@Jane Wheelaghan I think ANTSY has something to do with having “ants in your pants”; that is to say, restless. I suppose that can refer to what you call pants or what we call pants.
@Jane Wheelaghan I filled in SHAG, and thought about how difficult that answer would be to someone outside of the US. Then I thought about how strange it would seem to someone in the UK.
@Jane Wheelaghan And we also have RENO for renovation and REPO for repossession. So in the course of home ownership, you could do a RENO; if the costs put you underwater, you are subject to a REPO and have to do a RELO back to your parents’ house.
@Jane Wheelaghan TAFFY as a carnival thing was a bit odd. It's most frequently associated with the seaside, as many quaint towns and ocean boardwalks offer up "saltwater taffy" in souvenir boxes. I suppose the one thing taffy and toffee have in common, aside from being sweet treats, is how dangerous they can be to one's dental work!
Friday puzzle….. are we sure about that?
@Deb. A correction on the idea of “half life”. Astatine’s half life of 8.1 hours means that if somehow you managed to get one gram of astatine then after that time (8.1 hours) one half of it would have decayed leaving you with 500mg of astatine and 500mg of mainly bismuth. After another 8.1 hours the another half of the astatine would have decayed leaving you with 250mg. Another 8.1 hours 125mg and so on until you have a vanishingly small amount left.
@Patrick J. She could have said "degrades" instead of "disappears" I suppose. Her description gets the idea across (for me at least). I wouldn't expect her to explain half-life in the column.
@Patrick J. Also, hours is fairly long for the purposes of study. There are elements whose half-life is measured in seconds or less.
@Patrick J. & Mr. Dave: The astatine disappears, and the bismuth appears. It's magic!
@Patrick J. Me again! What has always fascinated me, a scientific layman, about half-life decay is that, like Achilles' tortoise, one will always have *some* Astatine left. Although I suppose at some point, after 8.1(x)n hours, you'll have four, then two, then one single indivisible ("a-tomic") particle of Astatine, which then, um, divides into an alpha particle and an atom of . . . Unless I, a scientific layman, is reading wikipedia wrong, doesn't longlived At-210 decay into Po?
I think CPAs are much more than bookkeepers.
@CNSbso So true. In fact, many bookkeepers are not CPAs.
@CNS And I think bookkeepers are much more than CPAs.
@CNS They keep “the books” And Babe Ruth was more than a home run hitter…